An archaeological relic which features the earliest known depiction of the Second Temple is to go on show in Rome.

The Magdala Stone will go on public display for the first time in an exhibition held by the city’s Jewish Museum and the Vatican museums.

Roughly the size of a coffee table, the stone was initially discovered in 2009 near Israel’s Sea of Galilee. It depicts the side of a building with pillared archways, while the front shows the oldest carved image of the temple’s seven-branched menorah. It also features a large rosette on the top with 12 petals.

The discovery was made in an area where a resort and centre for Christian pilgrims was due to be built, so when the stone was discovered major excavation works were launched revealing a first-century synagogue. The site turned out to be the presumed home of Mary Magdalene

For Jews living in Galilee in those days, Jerusalem was a substantial journey away so the stone may have brought a suggestion of the temple and an aura of holiness to the synagogue in the north.

The stone will be on display from May 15 to July 23 alongside more than 100 other biblical items across the Vatican museums and the Italian capital’s Jewish museum.

Catholic and Jewish officials say the exhibition, called Menorah—Cult, History and Myth, is another sign of radically improved inter-religious relations since 1965, when the Second Vatican Council repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus.